Improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of publicly financed health care
Stephen A. Somers, PhD
Stephen A. Somers, PhD, is the president and chief executive officer of the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), which he founded in 1995 with a major grant on Medicaid managed care from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In that role, he is responsible for the organization's growth into a nationally recognized center on improving care for beneficiaries of this country's publicly financed health care programs, particularly those with chronic illnesses and disabilities and those experiencing racial and ethnic disparities in care. CHCS now receives support from multiple philanthropies, corporate community benefit programs and the federal government.
Before starting CHCS, Dr. Somers was an associate vice president and program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Prior to that, he was a professional staff member at the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania. Dr. Somers serves as a visiting lecturer at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Dr. Somers earned his PhD in the politics of education from Stanford University.